New Delhi: After the 2002 post-Godhra riots, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted to sack Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister at the time, but the decision was stalled as then Home Minister LK Advani had threatened to resign from the Cabinet on the issue, claimed former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha.

“After the communal riots in Gujarat, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had decided that then state Chief Minister Narendra Modi should resign. While going to the national executive committee meeting in Goa in 2002, Atal ji had made up his mind that the Gujarat government would be dismissed if Modi ji refused to resign," Shina told during a meet-the-press programme in Bhopal.

"There was a meeting within the party. According to my information, Advani ji had opposed this (dismissing the Modi government) and he told Atal ji that if Modi ji is dismissed then he (Advani) would resign from the government. So, he (Vajpayee) withheld the decision and Modi ji continued," the former Union finance minister said.

Coming down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his repeated references to Pakistan while campaigning for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, Shina said that the saffron party is deliberately bringing up Pakistani threats as mentioning China would not arouse the same emotions.

Criticizing Modi’s foreign policy, Sinha said that the Prime Minister’s 56-inch chest is only for Pakistan and it shrinks to six inches when the Chinese threat is mentioned.

"Are we a country of Pakistan's category? There is no talk about China, which must be feeling happy with the Pakistan rhetoric," the former BJP leader said.

The former finance minister also dismissed the alleged misuse of INS Viraat by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, as a non-issue, saying formal naval officers have already issued a clarification on it.